The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
Oct. 26th, 2025 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Who has time to think about murder when there’s a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it.
Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
It’s around a year after THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE.
The Thursday Murder Club has not been particularly active, in large part because Elizabeth has retreated into herself following Stephen’s death and is still in mourning. Ron and Pauline are now living together while Ibrahim has continued his friendship with drug deal mogul Connie Johnson, who is now out of prison thanks to the collapse of all charges against her and has promised Ibrahim that she won’t kill Ron. The biggest development, though, belongs to Joyce whose daughter, Joanna, is marrying Paul Brett (a sociology professor at Middlesex University) after a whirlwind 6 month romance. Joyce, being Joyce, is completely thrilled about it and trying to help Joanna to plan the wedding without interfering too much.
At Joanna’s wedding Elizabeth meets Paul’s best man, Nick Silver. Nick runs a storage facility in a secret location near Fairhaven with his business partner Holly Lewis and having heard all about Elizabeth and the Thursday Murder Club from Paul, he is keen to get Elizabeth’s help. Someone is trying to kill him and whoever it is put a bomb underneath his car. Nick thinks he knows the reason why: he and Holly each have half of a code for Bitcoin worth £350 million and he thinks someone wants the two halves of the code so they can cash them in.
The mystery is interesting enough to rouse Elizabeth from her grief and she corrals the rest of the Thursday Murder Club to assist, although she has to do without the help of DCI Chris Hudson, who is away on a fire arms training course while DS Donna De Freitas has been tasked with coordinating on the security arrangements for a visit to Fairhaven by Prince Edward. Ron is also a little distracted. His grandson, 9 year old Kendrick, is staying with him and Pauline for a few days and he knows that this is because something has happened between his daughter, Suzi and her husband, the bullying Danny Lloyd, although his son, Jason, insists that everything is fine. Meanwhile Ibrahim is delighted that Connie is trying to give something back to the community by taking 18-year-old Tia under her wing and mentoring her in her new job as a cleaner at a Rolex warehouse.
When Elizabeth and Joyce turn up for a meeting at Jason’s office they find the place turned over and Jason missing. As the gang search for him, they meet with a former ecstasy dealer and a member of the landed gentry but when the would-be bomber strikes at Coopers Chase Retirement Home, the gang are determined to bring them down no matter what it takes …
The 5th in Richard Osman’s THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is a welcome return for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim. I particularly enjoyed seeing more of Ron’s character and his relationship with his children and also Joyce’s uneasy relationship with Joanna with new son-in-law Paul proving an interesting addition to the cast. However the mystery itself was underpowered and the way Osman pulls the various strands together was a little hand wavy at the end.
It’s been 2 years since the last THURSDAY MURDER CLUB mystery so I was pleased to see Osman return to his elderly quartet. The good news is that the wry tone and empathetic way the book looks at relationships and ageing remains with all of the characters meditating on their advancing years at some point in the story. This is particularly poignant in the case of Ron who gets a lot more development here as he reflects on how his role has changed from protecting his family to having his children try to shield him. His relationship with precocious Kendrick (something I have enjoyed in previous books) also gets more page time here, which I enjoyed although I would have appreciated a bit more of his relationship with Pauline, which has clearly moved to the next level.
Also enjoyable are Joyce’s journal sections. Osman does such a good job of showing the uncertainty and miscommunication that exists in her relationship with the high-powered Joanna and how both women love each other even as they don’t quite understand each other. Joanna does get more page time in this book than has previously been the case given that the plot involves the best man of her wedding. Osman uses Joanna to muse about love and romance and how relationships are both about certainty and discovery in a way that felt emotionally real and also quite personal. Paul Brett is an interesting addition to the cast - a sociology professor who is able to talk to all of the Club members but has mysteries of his own, including links to a crime family that will no doubt be explored in future books.
Elizabeth remains the engine of the book and is starting to move on from Stephen’s death. However the death has clearly changed her and Osman makes some poignant points about what it means to lose your partner, which I found very moving. The dynamic between Elizabeth and Joyce has also shifted slightly with Joyce being more confident in managing her but also not putting up with her bullying. I particularly enjoyed a scene involving a former coworker of Elizabeth’s called Jasper who she visits for assistance and who Joyce realises is not doing well on his own, forcing Elizabeth to stay as he wants to have someone to talk with.
Connie Johnson is one of my favourite characters and Osman is careful to develop her further here as she starts to struggle with something that may be a conscience under Ibrahim’s careful guidance. Her scenes with teenage Tia who wants to move up to high paying crime are very well done and an exchange she has with a selfish young man who is listening to his phone without headphones made me punch the air. However I have to say that the way Osman pulled in this story with the main plot line didn’t satisfy me as much as earlier books as they didn’t quite gel and seemed quite forced. This is also the case in the plot line from the point of view of Ron’s ne’er-do-well son-in-law Danny Lloyd - it’s the first time we’ve seen this character and learnt more about his thuggish behaviour to Suzi so this all felt a little out of left field while his plans for Susie, Jason, Ron and Kendrick seemed almost cartoonish.
The big problem however is with the main mystery itself. When Nick goes missing there are only 3 suspects and Elizabeth and co don’t spend a huge amount of time talking to them, which is a shame in the case of former ecstasy dealer Davey Noakes is someone I would be interested I seeing more of in future books. I think that for me the plot is more a case of events driving them than them driving events and towards the end Osman is more heavy handed than he’s previously been in how he ties things together.
With so much going on, it’s also a shame that some characters get pushed to the side. Chris, Donna and Bogdan all appear fleetingly and although I did like the way Chris talks about the cases he has solved without the Club’s assistance, I missed them even as I understand that there just wasn’t much of a need for them given everyone else. I hope that in future books there is a bit more of a balance.
If all this sounds like I’m negging the book then I should say that I did enjoy it and this remains a fun series that kept me turning the pages and I am just as keen as ever to find out what happens to the gang next.
The Verdict:
The 5th in Richard Osman’s THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is a welcome return for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim. I particularly enjoyed seeing more of Ron’s character and his relationship with his children and also Joyce’s uneasy relationship with Joanna with new son-in-law Paul proving an interesting addition to the cast. However the mystery itself was underpowered and the way Osman pulls the various strands together was a little hand wavy at the end.
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it.
Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
It’s around a year after THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE.
The Thursday Murder Club has not been particularly active, in large part because Elizabeth has retreated into herself following Stephen’s death and is still in mourning. Ron and Pauline are now living together while Ibrahim has continued his friendship with drug deal mogul Connie Johnson, who is now out of prison thanks to the collapse of all charges against her and has promised Ibrahim that she won’t kill Ron. The biggest development, though, belongs to Joyce whose daughter, Joanna, is marrying Paul Brett (a sociology professor at Middlesex University) after a whirlwind 6 month romance. Joyce, being Joyce, is completely thrilled about it and trying to help Joanna to plan the wedding without interfering too much.
At Joanna’s wedding Elizabeth meets Paul’s best man, Nick Silver. Nick runs a storage facility in a secret location near Fairhaven with his business partner Holly Lewis and having heard all about Elizabeth and the Thursday Murder Club from Paul, he is keen to get Elizabeth’s help. Someone is trying to kill him and whoever it is put a bomb underneath his car. Nick thinks he knows the reason why: he and Holly each have half of a code for Bitcoin worth £350 million and he thinks someone wants the two halves of the code so they can cash them in.
The mystery is interesting enough to rouse Elizabeth from her grief and she corrals the rest of the Thursday Murder Club to assist, although she has to do without the help of DCI Chris Hudson, who is away on a fire arms training course while DS Donna De Freitas has been tasked with coordinating on the security arrangements for a visit to Fairhaven by Prince Edward. Ron is also a little distracted. His grandson, 9 year old Kendrick, is staying with him and Pauline for a few days and he knows that this is because something has happened between his daughter, Suzi and her husband, the bullying Danny Lloyd, although his son, Jason, insists that everything is fine. Meanwhile Ibrahim is delighted that Connie is trying to give something back to the community by taking 18-year-old Tia under her wing and mentoring her in her new job as a cleaner at a Rolex warehouse.
When Elizabeth and Joyce turn up for a meeting at Jason’s office they find the place turned over and Jason missing. As the gang search for him, they meet with a former ecstasy dealer and a member of the landed gentry but when the would-be bomber strikes at Coopers Chase Retirement Home, the gang are determined to bring them down no matter what it takes …
The 5th in Richard Osman’s THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is a welcome return for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim. I particularly enjoyed seeing more of Ron’s character and his relationship with his children and also Joyce’s uneasy relationship with Joanna with new son-in-law Paul proving an interesting addition to the cast. However the mystery itself was underpowered and the way Osman pulls the various strands together was a little hand wavy at the end.
It’s been 2 years since the last THURSDAY MURDER CLUB mystery so I was pleased to see Osman return to his elderly quartet. The good news is that the wry tone and empathetic way the book looks at relationships and ageing remains with all of the characters meditating on their advancing years at some point in the story. This is particularly poignant in the case of Ron who gets a lot more development here as he reflects on how his role has changed from protecting his family to having his children try to shield him. His relationship with precocious Kendrick (something I have enjoyed in previous books) also gets more page time here, which I enjoyed although I would have appreciated a bit more of his relationship with Pauline, which has clearly moved to the next level.
Also enjoyable are Joyce’s journal sections. Osman does such a good job of showing the uncertainty and miscommunication that exists in her relationship with the high-powered Joanna and how both women love each other even as they don’t quite understand each other. Joanna does get more page time in this book than has previously been the case given that the plot involves the best man of her wedding. Osman uses Joanna to muse about love and romance and how relationships are both about certainty and discovery in a way that felt emotionally real and also quite personal. Paul Brett is an interesting addition to the cast - a sociology professor who is able to talk to all of the Club members but has mysteries of his own, including links to a crime family that will no doubt be explored in future books.
Elizabeth remains the engine of the book and is starting to move on from Stephen’s death. However the death has clearly changed her and Osman makes some poignant points about what it means to lose your partner, which I found very moving. The dynamic between Elizabeth and Joyce has also shifted slightly with Joyce being more confident in managing her but also not putting up with her bullying. I particularly enjoyed a scene involving a former coworker of Elizabeth’s called Jasper who she visits for assistance and who Joyce realises is not doing well on his own, forcing Elizabeth to stay as he wants to have someone to talk with.
Connie Johnson is one of my favourite characters and Osman is careful to develop her further here as she starts to struggle with something that may be a conscience under Ibrahim’s careful guidance. Her scenes with teenage Tia who wants to move up to high paying crime are very well done and an exchange she has with a selfish young man who is listening to his phone without headphones made me punch the air. However I have to say that the way Osman pulled in this story with the main plot line didn’t satisfy me as much as earlier books as they didn’t quite gel and seemed quite forced. This is also the case in the plot line from the point of view of Ron’s ne’er-do-well son-in-law Danny Lloyd - it’s the first time we’ve seen this character and learnt more about his thuggish behaviour to Suzi so this all felt a little out of left field while his plans for Susie, Jason, Ron and Kendrick seemed almost cartoonish.
The big problem however is with the main mystery itself. When Nick goes missing there are only 3 suspects and Elizabeth and co don’t spend a huge amount of time talking to them, which is a shame in the case of former ecstasy dealer Davey Noakes is someone I would be interested I seeing more of in future books. I think that for me the plot is more a case of events driving them than them driving events and towards the end Osman is more heavy handed than he’s previously been in how he ties things together.
With so much going on, it’s also a shame that some characters get pushed to the side. Chris, Donna and Bogdan all appear fleetingly and although I did like the way Chris talks about the cases he has solved without the Club’s assistance, I missed them even as I understand that there just wasn’t much of a need for them given everyone else. I hope that in future books there is a bit more of a balance.
If all this sounds like I’m negging the book then I should say that I did enjoy it and this remains a fun series that kept me turning the pages and I am just as keen as ever to find out what happens to the gang next.
The Verdict:
The 5th in Richard Osman’s THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is a welcome return for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim. I particularly enjoyed seeing more of Ron’s character and his relationship with his children and also Joyce’s uneasy relationship with Joanna with new son-in-law Paul proving an interesting addition to the cast. However the mystery itself was underpowered and the way Osman pulls the various strands together was a little hand wavy at the end.
